Spiced To Death Part 30

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN.

GABRIELLA DROPPED ME OFF at the hotel, but this time no one was clamoring for me. I was pondering my next move when the phone rang. It was Peggy. She spoke fast and her voice was high pitched and excited.

"That woman-the one you saw here-you know, the one you described to us? Well, she just came in! Maisie saw her too and she agrees it's the same one. What should I do?"

"Keep her talking, don't let her get away," I said urgently. "I'll be there as fast as I can."

"What if she wants to leave?" wailed Peggy. "How can I stop her?'

"Lock the doors, say you've lost the key, tell her it's an emergency-do anything you have to do but keep her there!"

One of the desk clerks had told me that on the corner of the block was a suite of doctors' offices which had a steady flow of taxis. It was the best place to catch one, he said, and he was right. I got one almost immediately and I was lucky enough to have a driver who was incredibly not only American but a New Yorker. After congratulating him on being the only one of his kind, I offered him an extra twenty dollars if he got me to the Spice Warehouse fast.

He narrowly avoided losing paint at least three times and left a trail of curses, shaken fists, screeching brakes and terrified pedestrians but he earned his twenty and I dashed into the Spice Warehouse. The door wasn't locked, several customers were there and I couldn't see any signs of struggle or commotion.

Maisie came hurrying toward me.

"She's in the office with Peggy."

"Well done," I congratulated her. "Did you have to tie her to a chair?"

"Oh no, she's quite nice, really."

"Nice! We'll see how nice she is."

I stormed across to the office. Peggy and the woman were drinking from cups that wafted an aroma of chamomile. They sat in the small office that held such unpleasant memories but I was pleased to see that Peggy was adjusting so well.

"Like a cup of herb tea?" she asked.

"In a minute. First, I want to ask this woman a few questions."

I glared at her. She was wearing a neat business suit in dark blue and looked cool and attractive.

"Remember our last conversation?" I asked. "It was here, a few days ago. We talked about ginger."

She nodded, bright and friendly. "Yes, of course."

"You have some explaining to do," I said hotly.

"It's all right," Peggy said. "She's been telling me about herself."

I looked at her. The brown eyes, the firm chin and the straight nose made her face just as pretty as I remembered it. Ignore her looks, I told myself-interrogate her.

"You were with me ... that day," I said, not wanting to refer to it in front of Peggy as "the day of the murder."

"Yes, but I left if you remember."

"You left me but I don't know where-"

"She's told me all about it," Peggy said.

"Please, Peggy, let me do this."

Peggy drank some tea and nodded. She really was being very placid about it all; perhaps it was the tea. The woman turned to me.

"I left here immediately after I left you. I told you I had another appointment that I couldn't break. I had to go. I didn't know anything about Mr. Renshaw's"-she looked apologetically at Peggy-"well, death, until later."

"But you were there just before!" I told her. "Why didn't you come forward and tell the police that?"

She stared in astonishment. "I did."

I returned her astonishment. "You did?"

"Of course. I went to my other appointment and finished the day in the office. It wasn't till evening when I turned on the news. I could hardly believe it but I called the police and told them all I knew."

"Didn't you know you were my alibi?"

"I wasn't," she said resolutely. "How could I be? I had already left."

"I was a prime suspect-still am to some extent."

"Ah, yes," she said. "The Ko Feng. I guessed you must be the Englishman who was brought over for the authentication."

"She knows more about this than you think," Peggy told me.

"I don't doubt it," I said, regarding her sternly.

"She can explain all that," Peggy said.

"Peggy, please! I don't mean just what's on the television news and in the papers. She also turns up in a lot of places where things are happening."

"If you'd just let me tell you," the woman said in an exasperated tone. "About the Ko Feng, about the Marvell Corporation ..."

My suspicions returned. She might look delectable but she wasn't off my "doubtful" list yet.

"You know a lot about it."

"Yes, I believe I do," she said coolly.

"How much do you know about the Marvell laboratories in Leonia?"

"I go there from time to time."

I goggled at her. "When were you there last?"

"Oh, several days ago," she said cheerfully. She scrutinized me and some kind of memory dawned. "That surely wasn't you there that day ... pulling those funny faces ... pretending to be trapped in the environmental lab ..."

She looked like she was about to laugh but my face must have resembled the proverbial thunder and she managed to control herself.

"I thought I saw you down the corridor but I told myself it couldn't be. Then there was the pandemonium when the alarms went off... That wasn't really you in there, was it?"

She had a sudden attack of coughing but she mastered it and had to dab away a few tears.

"You turn up in a lot of places, don't you?"

I wasn't done with her yet. She couldn't laugh at me and get away with it.

"Why were you at the sale in the church?"

She looked puzzled. "Church? I don't know what-"

"The food sale-stolen, dangerous, dubious food and drink of all kinds-absinthe, duck's tongues, mammoths ... Isn't that enough to identify which sale? I mean, how many sales like that do you go to?"

She smiled. It was a sunny smile and she tilted her head to one side in the same charming gesture I recollected.

"I go to all sales like that," she said.

"Why?" I asked darkly.

She opened a small clasp bag with a silvery mesh material over it and handed me a card. It read KAY GRENVILLE and underneath the name was NEW ENGLAND a.s.sURANCE COMPANY.

"So that's how you knew about the Ko Feng," I said weakly.

"Of course. We insured it."

"So-o-o-you're not a mystery woman at all." I was voicing my thoughts.

"I'm not? What a shame!"

"Wait a minute," I said suddenly. "You insured that shipment of birds' nests five years ago, didn't you?"

She regarded me sharply. "You noticed the similarity too, did you?"

"Don Renshaw noticed it. That was probably what got him killed."

"Yes, Lieutenant Gaines asked me about that. We didn't have anything to add, unfortunately."

Another thought occurred to me. "You went to the sale with Tom Eck, didn't you?"

She shook her head firmly. "No. I ran into him there. I've known him for some time."

"I can understand why you'd want to be there-you must pick up some useful tips on stolen items. But why does Eck go to sales like that?"

"He puts up the financing for purchases of food products. I see him occasionally at various events. He likes to keep in touch with customers, actual and potential, as well as keep contact with the market."

"Even the black market?"

"Yes. It's not too surprising. You'd be staggered at some of the people I see at those sales."

I nodded. I was recalling that Eck had told me he had been approached by restaurant owners wanting financing from him to buy Ko Feng from Marvell.

"Something else you can tell me," I said. "What's the situation regarding the policy that Marvell has with you on the Ko Feng?"

"Funny you should ask ..." Those calm brown eyes were examining me contemplatively.

Peggy poured more tea and looked at me inquiringly. I nodded. It seemed to have had a calming effect on the two of them so I might as well join in, although Kay's role now made more sense.

"Funny how?" I reminded her.

"Marvell filed his claim today."

"Did he! Now that's interesting."

"You know," she went on and her voice was speculative, "I avoided any contact with you after the murder-after all, I didn't know you and a few minutes' conversation about ginger is hardly a basis for forming any judgment about a person. Then during a recent exchange of information with Hal Gaines, he said that Scotland Yard had given you a clean bill-"

"So now you feel it's safe to talk to me," I said tartly.

It didn't upset her a bit. "You're no longer a prime suspect and Hal Gaines is giving you enough leash that you can do a little investigating. So, I see no reason why I shouldn't tell you about Marvell and his policy."

"How much is the policy worth?"

She smiled candidly.

"'Tell you about it,' I said-that doesn't mean I'm going to tell you how much it is."

"So what can you tell me?" I asked. "For instance, are you going to pay off?"

"Our immediate reaction is no. It's too soon."

"It's reaching the police limit. Another two days and it'll be dropped from the active file. That means they'll no longer have any faith in the Ko Feng being recovered."

"True."

"And what's your policy?"

"We don't have one for shipments of this nature. We judge each one on its own merits."

"You know, you can be very irritating," I told her. "You say there's no reason why you shouldn't tell me about Marvell and his policy and then you proceed to tell me nothing."

"What else do you want to know?" she said, smiling sweetly.

"You're judging Marvell's case on its merits, you said. Okay, what are its merits?"